Safety-gate for bridges



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L. F. SMITH. SAFETY GATE FOR BRIDGES.

No. 320,408. PatentedJune 16, 1885.

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L. F. SMITH.

SAFETY GATE FOR BRIDGES.

No. 320,408. Patented June 16, 1885.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUTHER F. SMITH, OF GREEN BAY, WISOUN SIN.

SAFETY-GATE FOR BRIDGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,408, dated June 16, 1885.

Application filed January 13, 1885. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LUTHER F. SMITH, of Green Bay, in the county of Brown, and in the State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Gates for Bridges, 850.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to safetygates particularly designed for protecting the approaches of draw-bridges, and will be fully described hereinafter.

In the drawings, Figure l is a top view of a portion of a draw-bridge having my-invention in place. Fig. 2 is an end view of the approach with my invention in place, and Fig. 3 is a like view showing a modification of my invention.

A is the frame-work that forms the approach to the draw, and B is the draw.

0 is a rock-shaft that turns in bearings 0 on standards a a. Between these standards a lever, D, is secured on the shaft 0. This lever carries or is formed with a guard, D, on one end, while its other end is slotted, as at d, to receive a bolt, (1, that secures a weight, D upon it. This weight and bolt are adjustable upon the lever D, and are secured in adjustment by tightening a nut, d The inner end ofshaft O carries a cam, E, which, when the guard D is in position to close the footway 1), stands with its thickest part up in the path of the sill a of the bridge, which is shown as partly open in Figs. 2 and 3, so that as the bridge closes the sill a, acting upon the cam, will turn it to the left and carry the lever over into a horizontal position against the resistance of the weight D The bridge is just being opened in Fig. 2, and is moving in the direction indicated by the arrow, the sill a has already passed over the cam E on the left side of the figure, and the weight upon the rock-shaft has caused it to turn and raise the guard across the way and as the draw completes its opening the sill a will escape the right cam E, and cause the right guard to rise also. Therefore either the bridge or guard closes the footways at all times.

I prefer to make the weight D adjustable, so that its position maybe fixed on the lever D in such a position as to merely overcome the weight of the guard without giving undue resistance to the action of the bridge.

In Fig. 3 I show a modification of my device, in which the shaft 0 is provided with two slotted arms, the arm f carrying a weight, D and the arm j carryinga rod, F, that projects up under a semtelliptic spring Gr, one end of which is fastened, as at y, and the other end of which slide, freely on a plate, 9. The lever D of guard l) is secured to the shaft 0 between its arms, and the guards are thrown up by the springs as the bridge swings from over the latter.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of rock shaft G, eccentric E, the guard and its lever, and a weight on the latter with a turnbridge, as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, in the presence of two witnesses.

LUTHER F. SMITH.

Witnesses S. S. STOUT, H. G. UNDERWOOI). 

